How Many Shopping Days Left?!?

OK, don’t panic… It’s 56, counting today.

Where has the time gone? Seriously. It’s been too long since my last post and I didn’t even realize it. I think I’ve spent too many hours engrossed in the latest Avon catalogs, mesmerized by the cool Christmas stuff.

Anyway, if you’re one of those like my sweet sister-in-law who plans early and shops early then laughs at the rest of us in a panic, or if you WANT to be like her, then it’s time to get serious. And I’m here to help you. :) Heck, you don’t even have to get dressed or drive anywhere to shop with me. I’ll come to you or you can shop my e-store.

So I think I’ll help you with your list this year. And by “I” I mean “me and Avon.
In this edition of the blog, I’ll give you ideas for the compulsive decorator on your list. She might even be you. :)

This year Avon has the cutest version of an Advent calendar that I’ve seen in a long time. This Count Down to Christmas House lights up and each day you open a new door or window to discover a new Christmas scene. It also plays 8 different Christmas songs. And it has an on/off switch so you can keep the house lighted up without the music.

One of my other favorite pieces is called Winter Wonderland Centerpiece. I thinks it’s so adorable but I’ll give you the description right out of the book:

“Avon exclusive. A classic holiday scene with cascading colored lights and moving parts. Santa's tree rotates, skaters skate and train goes through the tunnel! LED and fiber-optic lights change from red, to yellow, to blue. Plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". 3-way switch controls lights, music and moving parts.”

You can also find a beautiful hand-painted ceramic Nativity set this season. Currently you can get the Holy Family set or the Shepherd Boy with his Flock. Each is a 3-piece set. And soon there will be a set of the Three Wise Men or you'll have the option to buy the 9-piece collection. To be notified when the Wise Men or the collection will be available, register here.

Among other things, Avon also has an array of ridiculously cute tree ornaments. One of my favorites is the Dazzling Heels Ornament Set. Any woman who loves her shoes will love this set.

I think that’s it for now. I don’t want to overwhelm anyone right off the bat. You can see all of these products and so many more in my e-store – YourAvon.com/JerrieFoss.

Until next time…

Crackle Nails Are Here!

I know, you’re thinking, “What in the world does that mean?” What it means is that Avon now has the hottest trend in nail polishing.
It’s called Mosaic Effects and it’s currently on sale for $3.99. If you don’t know, it’s sort of like a top coat of polish that you put over a colorful base coat and it gives you this really cool effect. I can’t wait to try it out.

There are also some excellent bargains to be had in the ">Extra Lasting and Smooth Mineral lines. Right now you can buy particular products of either brand and get another one (of equal or lesser value) half off. You can mix and match to your heart’s content. Also in the “excellent value” category is the Glazeware Lip Gloss. Those are 2 for $5. I am not a lip gloss person but I really like Glazeware. I wrote about it here.

OK, I’m a little embarrassed about this next part but I’ll tell you anyway. I have several customers who swear by Glimmersticks Eyeliner and up until now I have never tried it. But let me tell you, that was a mistake! This eyeliner is fabulous. It stays in place all day and even all night when you’ve been too lazy, um I mean busy, to remove your eye makeup. Seriously, I looked in the mirror the next morning and the eyeliner was perfect. I won’t go into what the rest of my eye makeup looked like. There could be children reading. Regular Glimmersticks Eyeliner is on sale right now for $2.99, regularly $7.

And now that the kids are finally back in school it’s time to think about – what else? – Christmas! It’s just around the corner you know and Avon is the place to find stocking stuffers galore. Right now Avon Naturals Shower Gels (5 oz. each) are on sale for (can you believe it??) $1.25 each. Heck, for that price plus the Avon Care Silicone Glove Hand Cream for 99 cents, you can afford to bring gifts for the whole office or for all your kids’ teachers this holiday season.

That’s all I have for today. You can find any of these items plus tons more excellent products in my e-store.

Until next time…

What. A. Deal!

I’m a bargain shopper. If I get a killer deal on something I want to spread the word. “This blouse? $4 at Old Navy. Oh, those shorts? Got two for $12.”

Well, I was perusing my current Avon book and came across this deal that I absolutely HAVE to share. I do. Or I’ll burst!

Avon’s Anew Solar Advance sunscreen is on sale in this book – buy 1 get 2 free. Yes! Not 1 free; 2 free. That’s a bargain especially if you live in a state where sunscreen is necessary all year long.

I posted about the Solar Advance when it first came out here, and some more here. But the gist of it is that I have found that this product doesn’t just protect you from the sun. It really does work to repair your skin. It’s quite remarkable, really.

When it first came out earlier this year, there was the one for your face with SPF 45 and one for your body with SPF 30. And Avon now offers a mist version with SPF 28.

You can shop for that bargain and a lot of others at my e-store.

Oh, and if your house is like my house, the kids are counting down the days until you bring out the Halloween decorations. Well, this catalog also has some super cute home decorations like "We Got the Treats Pete". And if you, or your daughter, like to trend your jewelry with the holidays then you don’t want to miss these earrings

or this watch

.
And I’m thinking my son would kill for this spider web umbrella.

Until next time…

I Love Happy Discoveries =)

And I made not one, but two happy discoveries in the last couple of weeks!

The first one has to do with Skin So Soft Original lotion. For years and years I’ve heard about how it wards of mosquitoes, etc., but I’d never tried it myself. (Avon never claimed it worked as a mosquito repellent but some folks who used it swore by it, including my sister who lives in Florida and my sister-in-law who lives here in California.)

So last week we did a little family campout in the local mountains. My husband and his brother went up on Thursday and I followed on Friday afternoon after our son got out of school. By the time my son and I got there, my husband was uncharacteristically dressed in long pants and a long-sleeved shirt.

As soon as we stepped out of the car he said, “You want to change your clothes. Now.” Then he showed me a multitude of bug bites he’d gotten the night before from what we now think were mosquitoes and black flies. There were at least a dozen on his legs and more on his arms.

Now, he’d used Avon’s Bug Guard sunscreen in the morning and spent the day hiking. He didn’t reapply it at night because A) he didn’t need sunscreen at night and B) he assumed he was still covered from the morning application.

So my son and I immediately put on our long pants and long-sleeved shirts and I applied a layer of the Skin So Soft Original lotion to both of our exposed bits of skin. And my husband used it, too. That night, I didn’t get one bite and my husband didn’t get any more.

The next morning, the boys went fishing and I put my son in long sleeves, sunscreen and SSS Original. When we got home, he did not have a single bite on him.
I wore short sleeves and shorts with the SSS Original and ended up with one bite on my arm and one on my leg. That’s it. So now I have anecdotal evidence that it does work.

My suggestion is that you buy a few of the little travel size SSS Original and stash them in your purse. You never know when you’ll be out later than you think at that baseball or soccer game or a concert in the park.

The other happy discovery has to do with these cute (non-Avon) shoes and this magical product: Foot Works Anti-Rub Blister Stick. I bought those shoes and decided they looked best sans socks. So I put them on and took myself off to the grocery store only to
discover that they rubbed my heels and made hot spots on them. Ouch.

I’d seen the Anti-Rub Stick in the catalog so I ordered myself a couple. As soon as they came I put the product on my heels and put on my shoes. And Oh. My. Goodness. No rubbing. At all. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have a product that will make band-aids or mole skin on my heels a thing of the past. Bring on those fall boots! Those strappy sexy heels! I can take it! And so can my heels.

If you, or your kids or anyone in your family, has ever suffered from new shoe syndrome, I suggest you also stash one of these in your purse for emergencies.

As I think about it, with all this stuff you’re going to stash in your purse, you might need a bigger one. But not to worry! Avon has some really cute purses to choose from. You can find in my e-store. :)

Until next time…

Summer, Summer, Having a Blast...

Well, summer’s in full swing to be sure. After sitting around not doing much for several weeks, I’m now trying to cram all kinds of things into just a few weeks before my son heads back to school.

Just since July 4th we’ve had a chance to visit with family from out of town a couple of days, taken a couple of trips to the beach and want to plan a couple of more, we’ve got swimming lessons and are working on planning a camping trip. There are also movies to be seen and who know what else will come up!

And since I’m sure everyone else is just as busy, right now I’ve got just a few things to share with you.

First, in the current campaign Avon is offering the “Summer Swag Bag.” It’s a super cute and colorful tote and inside that tote are some of Avon’s most popular summer products: Advance Techniques Frizz Control Lotus Shield Treatment ($12); Anew Solar Advance Mini Sunscreen Face Lotion, SPF 45 ($7.50); Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard Top Coat ($6.50); Glazewear Lip Gloss, clear, SPF 15 ($6); and Haiku Eau de Parfum Spray, purse size ($10).

You can buy the Swag Bag for just $19.99 with select $10 purchase. I know what you’re thinking. “What 3 products can I select from to get this bag?” But guess what? There’s a huge list of qualifying purchases which you can see right here. For the most part if you just buy your Avon basics, you can probably qualify for the Swag Bag.

The next thing I want to tell you about is the new “Rep Rave” feature in the Avon catalogs. (You can also see them
in the e-store, just put “rep rave” in the search box.) The Rep Rave is when Avon representatives tell you about four of their favorite products. This campaign it’s a woman named Veruska and you get read her Avon story and see her favorite products. But the best part is that Avon then offers all of those products together for a really great deal.

For example, Veruska’s favorites are Anew Reversalist Day Cream ($32), True Colors Eye Shadow Quad in Caribbean Sunset ($9), Moisture Therapy Intensive Treatment Body Lotion, SPF 15 ($9), and Far Away Eau de Parfum spray ($23). You can buy the bundle (exactly as is, there is no switching the eye shadow color or fragrance, etc.) for just $35. It’s still an awesome bargain even if you break up the set and make gifts of the products you can’t use.

Now, talking about the start of school being just around the corner… Do you know a teen or young adult who is battling acne? Wouldn’t it be great to get those
breakouts under control before they head back to class? Well the answer may just lie in Avon’s Clearskin Professional Acne Treatment System. It includes just three easy steps to taking care of problem skin. Step 1 – cleanse, step 2 – tone, step 3 – treat. It’s as simple as that. And you can get the 3-step Clearskin Professional kit for just $24.99.

Finally, I don’t know about you but I’m kind of picky about the body moisturizer that I use. In the past I’ve had a hard time finding one that I liked. I’ve now tried two different body lotions from Avon’s Moisture Therapy line and I like them both even though they are different.

The first one I tried was the
38608">Vitamin Treatment Body Lotion. It claims to be “Non-greasy moisture that lasts 24 hours.” Well, I didn’t really time how long it lasted but it went on nicely, kept my skin supple and didn’t have a strong fragrance. It was a thinner lotion which I don’t normally like because they seem to be mostly water but this one really worked well.

After that I started trying an improved version of the Moisture Therapy Intensive Treatment Body Lotion. The improvement is that it now has a sunscreen SPF 15 (see the Rep Raves section again) which isn’t a lot of sun protection but it’s good for incidental sun exposure, such as walking to and from your car and so on. This lotion is much thicker than the other one I tried and it takes a minute but it does absorb right into the skin without leaving that sunscreen smell or feeling. I like this one very much, too.

So I think that’s it for this installment.

Until next time…

The Scent of Summer

So you know how sometimes you can just be walking down the street or through the mall and suddenly you smell something that sends you back to… somewhere? Grandma’s kitchen, mom’s wardrobe, summer camp, that place you stayed by the lake that time.

Summer has so many different scent memories for me. My bathing suit from an over-chlorinated pool, Sea & Ski sun screen, coconut scented tanning oil, jasmine growing like crazy, the fresh peaches we could pick off a tree in our backyard, the smell of barbecues from all over the neighborhood lighting up just before dinner time.

But I digress. The reason I’m thinking about these special summertime smells is because A) it’s the first day of summer, and B) Avon has just introduced three new
fragrances to lighten up your summery wardrobe. You cannot wear any of these three fun, flirty “Scentini” fragrances without feeling instantly cooler and lighter.

There’s Plum Twist, Citrus Chill and Rose Fizz. Each one smells pretty much like you think it will only a bit lighter and more fun! Avon calls them, “Fruity fragrance cocktails.” And here’s a tip I picked up some time ago – in the summer keep your fragrances in the refrigerator for a cool refreshing mist when you reapply.

You can check them out at my estore and see that they’re on an introductory special of $9.99 each.

Other things I think about in the summer time are sun protection and how to not look like the pasty Irishwoman I am.

I told you a while back that Avon had introduced a new line of sunscreen called Anew Solar Advance which includes an SPF 30 for the body and an SPF 45
for the face. I mentioned that I was going to try the SPF 45 on my décolletage because that skin has been so damaged over the years that it now has the appearance of turkey jerky. Well, I used the Solar Advance on it every day that I might potentially be exposed to the sun and you know what? That skin looks so much better. So. Much. Solar Advance actually did improve the texture of my skin! Even my husband mentioned how much better it looks. It’s still reddish but the texture is unbelievably improved. I’ve even heard anecdotal stories of women who use it on their face in place of their daily moisturizer and they’ve noticed that brown spots on their faces have disappeared.

Avon also still offers its Bug Guard line of sunscreens, too. I wrote about all of the products here.
But right now they’re all on sale for half price so I’d say it’s time to stock up. You can check them out in my e-store as well.

Finally, these days I try to avoid anything more than incidental sun exposure. You should see me at the beach, covered up like a mummy. But I still want to have some color on my legs when I wear shorts and skirts. I’ve found the answer to my dilemma in Avon’s Skin So Soft Absolute Glow Gel. I’ve been using it for several weeks now and I’m really liking it. My legs have enough color to look natural for me; which is to say that they’re no longer pasty but look a tiny bit sun kissed.

The Absolute Glow Gel goes on clear, spreads nicely and does not have a strong smell (which I found to be the case with another brand I tried last year). And it doesn’t take a long time to dry so you can get dressed pretty quickly after putting it on. The directions say to use it in place of your everyday moisturizer. It’s here in my e-store.

Until next time…

Something to think about.

There are so many reasons to love Avon’s Anew skincare line and today I’ll give you three more.

1) The 2-week starter kit in all lines (Rejuvenate, Reversalist, Ultimate and Platinum) is on sale. The starter kits include cleanser, daytime moisturizer, nighttime moisturizer and eye treatment for $25!

2) If you buy one of these starter kits, you’ll get a coupon for $10 off a full-sized product in one of the next 2 campaigns. So when you’ve tried these products and decide that you can’t live without this regimen (and you know you will) you’ll get a discount to continue on your road to fabulous skin. :)

3) If you’re already a dedicated Anew user and you’re heading off on vacation, this trial size kit is perfect to take with you. Instead of lugging along all of your full-sized products, you can pack this dainty little kit. Each container should also meet the FAA size requirements to go in your carry-on bag.

So, if you’d like to get in on this deal, you can shop my e-store under Anew products or you can contact me and I’ll get you squared away. If you are unsure of which line is best for you, you can take the skincare quiz here at my e-store.

Until next time…